The U.S. national guard was mobilized and people on the Louisiana coast evacuated from their homes Friday as a strengthening hurricane bore down that officials say threatens a deadly storm surge and flash flooding.

Hurricane Delta regained strength as it headed towards the United States early Thursday after lashing Mexico's Caribbean coast, where some tourists complained about conditions in crowded emergency shelters during a pandemic.

There were widespread power outages after Delta slammed into the Yucatan Peninsula in southeast Mexico as a Category 2 storm, toppling trees and ripping down power lines.

Earth's surface was warmer last month than during any September on record, with temperatures since January tracking those of the hottest ever calendar year in 2016, the European Union's Earth Observation Programme said Wednesday.

Mexico announced Tuesday the deployment of thousands of soldiers as an "extremely dangerous" hurricane barreled towards the Yucatan Peninsula, home to some of the country's top tourist resorts.

Tropical storm Delta strengthened into a hurricane Monday in the Caribbean, and is expected to intensify as it passes over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and into the southern United States.

Wildfires have destroyed up to 50 homes in New Zealand, authorities announced Monday, saying it was a miracle no one was hurt as "a wall of orange" razed most of a remote South Island village.

With tender care, Sepp Rieser adorns the bulky heads of his reluctant cows with flower wreaths, adds some more fir twigs, and adjusts the large bells around their necks.

French and Italian rescue services stepped up their search efforts on Sunday after floods cut off several villages near the two countries' border, causing widespread damage and killing two people in Italy.

Five years after "dieselgate" emissions cheating revelations rocked the car industry, ex-Audi CEO Rupert Stadler on Wednesday became the first top executive to stand trial in Germany.

Tens of thousands of Californians fled their homes in the Napa and Sonoma wine regions in the face of wildfires, emergency officials said, as a new blaze in the north of the state killed three people.